Descripción de What to expect from Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings

Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: And back to the Supreme Court nominee now. We want to take a closer look now at Judge Gorsuch from those who know him well and have studied his record closely. Jeffrey Brown has this portrait. READ MORE: Photos: Who is Neil Gorsuch? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Today, I am keeping another promise to the American people. JEFFREY BROWN: President Trump announced his pick in the East Room of the White House on January 31. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rule of law and the rule of justice. JEFFREY BROWN: And Americans had a first chance to meet Neil Gorsuch, his wife, Louise, at his side, a man who at age 49 could have a profound effect on the nation’s laws, and political life, for decades to come. NEIL GORSUCH, Supreme Court Nominee: Standing here in a house of history, and acutely aware of my own imperfections, I pledge that if I am confirmed, I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great country. MICHAEL TRENT, Friend of Neil Gorsuch: He’s very humble. If you met him in a crowd of people, he wouldn’t be the person that stood out and tried to capture the most attention of the group. He would be the person that would listen and sort of wait for an opportunity to share his thoughts. JEFFREY BROWN: Michael Trent has known Gorsuch since they were freshman in high school, and served as best man at his wedding. He’s talked with his friend in recent days. Where is his head at right now? MICHAEL TRENT: It’s very focused on preparing for the hearings. He wants to be sure that he gets it right. He wants to make sure that he puts his best foot forward. JEFFREY BROWN: He also knows, of course, the politics of our time. MICHAEL TRENT: I wish people would look past, you know, the rough-and-tumble bit of politics and what’s going on in the press and look to the person that he is. JEFFREY BROWN: Trent says Neil Gorsuch is a Coloradan through and through, a lover of the outdoors, fishing, hiking, and skiing. He was raised in Denver with two siblings, his mother a prominent Republican state legislator. She was tapped by Ronald Reagan as the first woman to head the EPA, bringing the family to Washington, D.C., when Neil was 14. ANNE GORSUCH BURFORD, Former EPA Administrator: I did submit my resignation to the president of the United States, with regret, last night about 5:00. JEFFREY BROWN: Anne Gorsuch Burford resigned in the wake of a congressional investigation into mismanagement of a hazardous waste program just 22 months into her tenure. Politically conservative from an early age, Neil Gorsuch attended Columbia University, where he and friends started their own conservative paper called “The Federalist.” MICHAEL TRENT: I think probably what he saw at Columbia was one side being reported over and over again, and he wanted to provide another side. JEFFREY BROWN: Even more than that, he wants to put a kind of conservative view into a liberal bastion. Right? MICHAEL TRENT: Well, it was Columbia, I mean, you know New York City in the 1980s. The fact that he was ambitious enough to start his own paper and get his own thoughts out there, I think, speaks a lot to the type of person that he is. I mean, a lot of people will go off and do wild things in college. And, you know, Neil basically took that opportunity to put his thoughts on paper and get them out there.